How is the Unreal
used to make sense
of the Real in
The Things They
Carried?
There are 3 levels…
1) Individual Character
2) Unreal Narrators
3) Real World Author
1) How do individual
characters use the unreal
to make sense of the
real?
How do individual characters use the unreal
to make sense of the real?
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Mary Anne and Mark Fossie:
“Sweetheart of The Song Tra Bong”
O’Brien takes two similar characters and places
them in the same situation.
Mary Anne makes sense of the situation by
immersing herself in the surreal side of Vietnam –
necklace of tongues, tribal music etc.
Mark Fossie tries to hold onto the past and is left
behind.
How do individual characters use the unreal
to make sense of the real?
• Henry Dobbins: wears his girlfriend’s pantyhose
around his neck as a form of protection against the
horrors of Vietnam.
• The superstitions allow him to understand that his life
could end at any moment in Vietnam but that living
in a state of high alert and paranoia would be
detrimental.
• The symbol of his girlfriend’s pantyhose shakes away
the self destructive doubt that haunts other
characters.
How do individual characters use the unreal
to make sense of the real?
• In “Style” the girl’s dancing links to how Dobbins
carries his girlfriend’s stockings around his neck.
• These abstract actions are an attempt to avoid
confrontation with the horrors of war
• Dobbins’s stockings can’t deflect bullets and the
girl’s dancing cannot bring back her family, her
village, or life as she knew it before the war.
How do individual characters use the unreal
to make sense of the real?
• With these characters we see a range of coping
methods.
• The main methods are: telling stories, superstitions,
or immersion as a way of understanding.
• Telling stories and having superstitions are both ways
of distracting oneself from the physical and focusing
on the emotional.
• Mary Anne’s immersion technique allows her to
focus entirely on her situation and grow to
understand and befriend it.
2) How do the narrators
use the unreal to make
sense of the real?
How do the narrators use the unreal to
make sense of the real?
O’Brien’s stories about others:
• Coping mechanisms are a way of understanding
what has happened
• O’Brien uses his stories to try to comprehend the
way he feels in certain situations.
How do the narrators use the unreal to
make sense of the real?
• “How To Tell a True War Story” in real life, would be a
disturbing and traumatic event.
• Although something absurd has just happened he is
re-contextualising it as natural.
“…and when he died it was almost beautiful, the
way the sunlight came around him and lifted him
up and sucked him high into a tree full of moss
and vines and white blossoms.”
How do the narrators use the unreal to
make sense of the real?
• The gore is never even mentioned
• Surreal
• Therefore he is able to turn the story of Curt Lemon
from a war story (which would destroy him the same
way such stories destroyed Norman Bowker) into a
love story and a celebration of life.
How do the narrators use the unreal to
make sense of the real?
O’Brien’s stories about himself:
“The Man I Killed”
• Star-shaped hole, strips of flesh.
• Third person.
• He makes up a story about the Vietnamese man’s life, which is
based off his own life.
• He is trying to understand his own life.
• The narrator is distracting and separating himself from ‘fact’ in
order to understand something deeper.
How do the narrators use the unreal to
make sense of the real?
Layers of narration (Norman Bowker & O’Brien):
“Speaking of Courage”
• Kiowa → Norman Bowker → Tim O’Brien →Audience
• We are several steps removed from the death
How do the narrators use the unreal to
make sense of the real?
• Norman Bowker tells us that he was as brave as he
possibly could have been, but even that much
bravery was not enough to save his friend.
• This gives us insight not only into Kiowa’s death but
also into Bowker’s emotions.
How do the narrators use the unreal to
make sense of the real?
• Overall, the narrators demonstrate a range of
coping mechanisms.
• O’Brien’s stories are theatrical and easy to
comprehend.
• Those of other characters are confused and literal.
• O’Brien separates himself from the horror he
witnesses by focusing on beauty.
• If something directly affects him he uses third person
to separate himself from it.
Are the narrators use of the coping
mechanisms effective?
• We see that O’Brien’s coping methods are the most
successful as he is able to communicate the stress
and anxiety that he feels.
• By unloading his burden via a story, it becomes a
light load that is carried by everyone. As opposed
to the overwhelming weight Bowker succumbs too.
3) How does the author use
the unreal to make sense of
real?
How does the author use the unreal to help
make sense of the real?
• Tim O’Brien (author) struggled with his own decision
to take part in the Vietnam war.
• Directly addresses his audience “What would you
do?” and “Would you cry, as I did?”.
• This is his way of putting us in his shoes and thus
applying the story’s meaning and feeling to real life.
So if O’Brien is addressing us outside of
his book, what is he trying to say?
• He became an author after the war
• When he returned he was deeply affected by the
war and so began to write stories.
• This helped him cope, just the same as Tim O’Brien
(the fictional character) does.
• He is demonstrating to us, the importance of being
able to overcome the difficult times in life.
•
The necessity of having a healthy coping method.
• War-zone
↔
(Linda)
World we can associate with.
• Even though the coping mechanism may not be a
physical thing, it is still important.
• Through The Things They Carried O’Brien is able to
pass on a lesson he had to fight in the Vietnam war
and then suffer for many years to understand.
• The unreal helps us to understand the real by
separating negative memories from ourselves and
finding ways to justify what has happened.
• He struggled with the situation he was put in.
• The whole book functions as a vessel to enforce this
point so that we may benefit from it:
“I realize it is as Tim trying to
save Timmy’s life with a story.”